Page:Enquiry into plants (Volume 1).pdf/453

 of the silver-fir is of a better colour at the time of the first peeling.

But since they strip the bark of hardly any trees except silver-fir fir and pine, these trees are cut in the spring; for then is the time of coming into leaf. Other trees are cut sometimes after wheat-harvest, sometimes after the vintage and the rising of Arcturus, as aria (holm-oak) elm maple manna-ash zygia beech lime Valonia oak, and in general all those whose timber is for underground use. The oak is cut latest of all, in early winter at the end of autumn. If it is cut at the time of peeling, it rots almost more quickly than at any other time, whether it has the bark on or not. This is especially so if it is cut during the first peeling, less so during the second, and least during the third. What is cut after the ripening of the fruit remains untouched by worms, even if it has not peeled: however worms get in under the bark and mark the surface of the stem, and such marked pieces of wood some use as seals. Oak-wood if cut in the right season does not rot and is remarkably free from worms, and its texture is hard and close like horn; for it is like the heart of a tree throughout, except that that of the kind called sea-bark oak is even at that time of poor quality.

Again, if the trees are cut at the time of coming into leaf, the result is the opposite of that which follows when they are cut after fruiting: for in the former case the trunks dry up and the trees do not sprout into leaf, whereas after the time of fruiting they sprout at the sides. At this season however